“It was basically just me doing all the programming and it was all in my head.” said Renier, the co-owner of E-Town Fitness in Elmhurst, Illinois, a gym that offers semi-private training. 

One time, he brought in one of his coaches to observe a training session, hoping he could delegate some sessions to her, but she was like, “You’re just telling them what to do. How am I supposed to help here?”

“It was customization on the fly, not being really organized. It was just me [knowing what my clients needed] and taking good care of my members,” Renier explained. 

Ultimately, Renier realized it would be impossible for him to ever delegate more of his coaching hours, or programming time, to his other coaches, as his system relied on him being there and was “impossible to scale.”

Turns out, it was exactly what he needed not only for himself, but also for his coaches and his semi-private training clients.

Renier now coaches 10 hours less each week, time he can now spend on other areas of the business that need attention, he explained. 

How it works: When a new client comes in, they go through an assessment—a body mapping phase—and they receive scores between -3 all the way to +3 on all of the relevant movement patterns. 

These scores then determine which specific exercises (regressions and progressions) in every movement pattern are best for that client.

Then, when the master training program is uploaded into the app, clients’ individual programs are automatically populated into the app with their specific training program based on where they are at on the movement matrix.

Worth noting: With that being said, the app does not take the human touch out of the equation, Renier explained. At any given time, a coach can step in and make changes on the fly if, for example, a client is experiencing pain or an injury, and these changes are instantly made in the client’s app view, as well. 

The big picture: Ultimately, Semi-Private Pro has allowed Renier the ability to delegate the training “knowing that the coaches can fulfill at a high level, the clients are going to have a great experience, and I can work on other areas of the business.”

“It allows the coaches to be able to deliver the training experience at a very high level,” Renier said. 

And again, the app makes it easy for coaches to manipulate a program in the moment if they need to regress or progress a movement for a particular client, whereas in the past this was a challenge and only added to their stress.

“Stress is way down, which allows them to fulfill on coaching at a high level,” he said.

Further, Renier said that the movement matrix has really helped “incentivize” his clients to want to progress, to lift heavier, to increase reps, so they move up the matrix.

“It gives them that ascension, that path and that ladder to continuously want to make progress, to hit new maxes, and get to a new level [on the movement matrix], so the client experience is enhanced,” he said.

This, of course, also improves the likelihood of clients actually tracking their progress, which is key to client retention.

“If your goal is to move more into that owner’s seat, it allows you to be able delegate the coaching and have the coaches still fulfill at a higher level, so you can work on growing the business,” he explained. 

He added: “And if you do like being on the coaching floor, it allows you to have more systematic programming. Once it’s built, it’s built, and then you don’t need to be spending hours a week programming. And then you can just work on client experience and delivering at a very high level.”

Semi-Private Pro helped Tom delegate programming, reduce stress for his team, and reclaim 10+ hours a week. Now his coaches deliver at a higher level—and he finally has time to lead.

Book a free demo of Semi-Private Pro and see how it can work for your gym.